Former Cherry Creek star now Boston Red Sox player Darnell McDonald takes batting practice before their game against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at Coors Field. John Leyba, The Denver Post

Former Cherry Creek star now Boston Red Sox player Darnell McDonald takes batting practice before their game against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at Coors Field. John Leyba, The Denver Post

It hardly seemed fair that Darnell McDonald couldn’t get right into talking about finally being in the right place at the right time in his late-blossoming major-league career.

But Tuesday afternoon, while sitting in front of his locker in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse, McDonald reflected on his roots in Denver.

“I skipped school and was at the inaugural game with the big crowd at Mile High Stadium,” McDonald said of the Rockies’ home opener in 1993. “I grew up about 10 minutes south of Mile High in Englewood. I was able to catch a lot of the Triple-A games. This is where it all started for me.”

McDonald said he was at the Triple-A game when Joey Meyer hit the monster home run that afterward was marked by a green chair in the left-field upper deck at Mile High. McDonald was also a huge fan of Rockies center fielder Ellis Burks and the Blake Street Bombers, who later took Coors Field by storm.

Finally, he could get to the Red Sox.

“This has been like a storybook season for me, especially the way it started,” said McDonald, 31. “We’re coming in on a hot streak, and we’re playing good baseball right now.”

McDonald’s storybook began April 20 when the Red Sox called him up from Triple-A because of injuries to other outfielders. He hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth to tie the score and a two-out walk-off single in the ninth at Texas. He homered the next day and stuck around ever since. After 148 at-bats, he’s hitting .270, with three home runs and 17 RBIs. Entering this season, he had played in only 68 big-league games combined in appearances with Baltimore, Minnesota and Cincinnati before hooking on with the Red Sox this year.

“I feel like I’m in my prime at 31 and starting to do the things I knew I could do,” McDonald said.

Until this season, nearly everything that could go wrong in his career did go wrong.

Along the way he was suspended for violating major-league baseball’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He played a couple of years in independent leagues when nobody else wanted him. Through it all he persevered to get another shot.

“He brought a lot of energy to us at a time when we had some outfielders banged up,” Francona said. “He got his chance, and he’s trying to make the best of it.”

McDonald, one of the best high school football players in Colorado history, was drafted in the first round of the MLB draft by Baltimore in 1997 out of Cherry Creek. He was rated the top position player in the draft by one national publication.

“When I was drafted, I hadn’t played a lot of baseball,” McDonald said. “I played football and basketball too. When I was 18, I thought differently. I’m happy with the decisions I made. You live and learn. The things I have been through have prepared me for this opportunity.”

More in Sports

Broncos general manager John Elway was reminded of the nice weather, of the fun memories he had some 13 miles west in Palo Alto in college and of course the ones he experienced here in Santa Clara back in 2016.

A tangled mess at Coors Field unraveled early Thursday afternoon as rookie right-hander Jeff Hoffman craned his neck to see home run after home run leave the yard. Before the end, it devolved into a dilemma.